5 Ways Prince Charles’ Affair Destroyed Prince William And Princess Diana’s Relationship

When details of Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s troubled marriage came out in the early 90s, fans of the royal family were shocked by the news. Behind closed doors, Prince William was struggling to deal with the strain on his parents’ relationship.

However, when Diana exposed the truth about Charles’ affair with Camilla Parker Bowles in a revealing interview, William reached his breaking point. After that, his relationship with his mother began falling apart.

Take a look at the 5 ways Prince Charles’ affair with Camilla destroyed Prince William and Princess Diana’s relationship.

1. Prince William Wanted Distance From Diana

In the documentary, “Diana: Last Days of a Princess,” photographer, Arthur Edwards, revealed the attention Diana received following her split with Prince Charles, hurt her relationship with William. While vacationing in the South of France, Diana approached the paparazzo and made an emotional confession.

“Suddenly, she strode down some steps and very rapidly got into a boat. I remember picking up the camera, and she said, ‘no pictures,’” Edwards recalled.

When Diana realized the photographer was following her, she revealed the press was ruining her family. “‘William told me to leave England and go live somewhere else,’” Diana told Edwards.

The photographer claimed he was overcome by a wave of guilt after their encounter. “That started getting me a little bit stressed because I thought, ‘I don’t want to be the reason why she’s going to live in exile,” he said.

2. Prince William Felt Princess Diana Embarrassed Their Family

In the 2012 biography, “Prince William: Born to be King,” Penny Junor claimed the Princess of Wales warned William about her Panorama Interview in 1995. Although Diana told William he would be proud of her after the interview, he wasn’t.

Once the conversation aired, Junor claimed William was “angry, aghast and no doubt humiliated at the family secrets she laid bare before some 20 million viewers.”

In the interview, Diana revealed details about Charles’ affair with Camilla and her affair with James Hewitt. When the Princess of Wales saw William after the broadcast, he lashed out.

“He started shouting and crying and, when she tried to put her arms around him, he shoved her away,” she wrote.

“He was furious that she hadn’t told him what she was going to do, furious that she had spoken badly of his father [and] furious that she had mentioned Hewitt.”

3. William Couldn’t Forgive Diana

In the Amazon Prime documentary “William and Harry: Brothers in Arms,” royal correspondent, Katie Nicholl revealed Diana reached out to her friend, Simone Simmons, about William’s reaction to the interview.

“William was exposed to everything from the interview and called his mother in a fury and a rage,” Nicholl explained.

Simmons told Nicholl that Diana thought she destroyed her relationship with William. “[She told me] it was the one time William turned on his mother and said, that he would never forgive Diana for what she’d done,” she recalled.

4. William Refused To Speak To Princess Diana

According to Katie Nicholl’s book “William and Harry,” William felt betrayed by Diana after her Panorama interview.

“He simply could not believe that his mother had invited the television cameras into the home he had grown up in and loved, to betray his father and their family in such a public way,” the author wrote.

Although William adored his mother, he felt “she had gone too far” with the interview. “When William returned to Kensington Palace he refused to speak to his mother,” the Nicholl revealed said.

5. Princess Diana’s Mixed Signals Took A Toll On Prince William

Although Diana was unhappy in her marriage to Prince Charles, she knew it was important to maintain a united front in public. In Katie Nicholl’s book, “William and Harry,” the royal biographer claimed William grew tired of watching his parents argue in private.

When the family boarded a yacht for a getaway, Prince William reportedly refused to pose for photos before the family set sail on their voyage.

“He was at a difficult age and stormed off when his mother asked him to pose for a photograph with [royal yacht] Britannia’s crew,” Nicholl wrote.

Princess Diana and Prince Charles finalized their divorce in 1996. The Princess of Wales died in a car crash in Paris the following year.